Rory’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #2)(2)
Author: J.S. Scott

"I don’t," she answered firmly.

"You do." He started to smile again.

"Don’t," she insisted.

"Come on, Callie. You were looking at the cake table like a tiger looks at raw meat. You wanted it. That’s why I brought it."

Oh, shit. She groaned inwardly. Was she really that obvious. "I’m a chef. I was just checking out the competition."

"You wanted to taste the competition. Admit it." He took the plate from her and set it in front of him. He took a clean fork and scooped up a bite of the irresistible confection. He reached over the table and held it to her mouth. She opened automatically and he dropped it in.

Callie closed her eyes as the silky chocolate slid over her taste buds. She nearly groaned. It was near perfection. She opened her eyes to see him holding out another bite. She slid her chair back. "No Rory. I can’t."

He looked perplexed. "Why?"

Callie was getting pissed. Did she need to spell it out for him? "In case you didn’t notice, I can’t afford the calories."

Rory sat back in his chair, dropping the fork back onto the plate. "I didn’t notice. You look fine to me."

If I looked so fine, you would be asking me for my phone number. You would ask me to dance. Why did he have to say that with nothing but confusion and detached interest?

It wasn’t his fault. He just wasn’t interested. Callie couldn’t even blame it on the fact that he was attached. Brianna said all of the brothers were single and unattached. He just didn’t want her.

She grabbed the plate of cake and pulled it in front of her. What the hell! She would be careful tomorrow.

Rory picked up a clean flute glass and filled it with champagne, saluting her before he raised it to his lips. He didn’t quite smile but his lips were twitching.

God, he was irresistible. He may not be interested, but he was sweet. Her instincts were telling her he was completely genuine. He was certainly unusual. She could see a certain insecurity in him that spoke to her. She knew what that was like. It didn’t matter that he was outrageously attractive, charming, genuinely kind. He just didn’t believe he was anything special.

"Rory?," she queried softly between her luscious bites of cake.

"Yes," he answered in a low voice as he refilled his champagne and topped off hers.

She leaned slightly across the table, as if she were about to give away a huge secret. He leaned in slightly.

"You are the best looking of all of the Hale brothers," she whispered softly, just loud enough for him to hear.

His smile started with his lips and moved to his eyes. His whole face lit up. His eyes sparkled as he leaned over and she leaned in to hear his secret.

"Callie…you don’t need to lose weight. You are the most ravishingly beautiful woman here." Still no interest, but his voice was sincere. He might have said it matter-of-factly, but he truly meant it.

She blushed. She tried to look another direction, embarrassed that she was blushing like an adolescent teenager.

When her face cooled down she sneaked a look in his direction. He was watching her. He lifted his champagne flute and she raised her glass to his.

With the clink of the glasses, a tentative friendship was born.

Chapter 2

Rory Hale awoke three weeks later from his day sleep in a very good mood. He sat up and stretched.

Although vampires didn’t sleep like the dead, it was almost like hibernation. Their breathing and heart rate were almost non-existent and nothing could bring them out of the day sleep except their mate. It was a vulnerable time for any of his brethren and Rory had ultra high security around his home. He lived outside of the city and owned the five hundred acres of land surrounding the spacious, brick two story home. His land was surrounded by tall metal fences with only one entry gate and he guarded his home with magic. Metal shutters plunged the house into total darkness at daybreak.

He rolled out of bed completely naked, his c**k completely flaccid. He hadn’t had to worry about a wake up erection for three hundred years. He had lost all sexual function hundreds of years ago after he passed the age of one hundred. He was four hundred now. He didn’t even remember what it felt like to have a stiff dick in the morning.

He used his magic to trigger the metal shutters to open, taking in the tranquility of the night.

It was a perfect late spring evening, unseasonably warm, and he could smell the profusion of flowers that surrounded his house and garden. The crickets were chirping merrily and loudly.

He was tempted to linger at the large window, but he stepped into the bathroom and flipped on his large walk-in shower. He put his head back, letting the massaging jet flow over his body.

Vampires could clean themselves, but Rory loved the feel of water. As he soaped his muscular body his hand ran over his mating mark. He covered it with magic most of the time and didn’t see it very often, but now he stared at it, wondering what had ever become of his mate.

The mark was an intricate dragon, no larger than a half dollar. His brothers had similar marks as it was their family marking, but each one had some subtle variations, making it unique to each brother. As he surveyed the mark he was hit by a twinge of loneliness. He wished he knew why his mate had never called him.

Ethan had warned all of the brothers to not give up hope. Ethan suspected that the reason he was so late getting to Brianna was because he was no longer open to listening for her. He had thrown in the towel and become resigned to the fact that his mating possibilities were gone.

Rory covered the marking with his magic, sighing as he rinsed the soap from his body. He didn’t want to give up hope. He tried to stay open to possibilities. But it was highly unlikely that his mate would show up after all of these years.

As he stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off he remembered the agony Ethan had gone through after he had found Brianna. Did he really want to go through that?

Hell yeah…he would. Finding his mate would be extraordinary. The one that was born for him. The guardian of his soul. What would it be like to be that connected to a woman?

He was lonely. That was probably why he was so happy to be going to Brianna and Ethan’s for dinner tonight. He loved seeing Brianna. And he would see Callie. Ethan was doing barbecue, but Callie was making all of the side dishes. It was guaranteed to be a wonderful dinner.

Rory loved Ethan’s mate Brianna. She fussed over all of the brothers and that was something his brother Nathan hadn’t had since their parent’s demise four hundred years ago. He and Liam had never known that feeling at all. He and Liam had been babies but Ethan and Nathan remembered the fallen attack that had taken their parents. Their parents had sacrificed their own lives for their children.